This invention is related in general to the field of telecommunications equipment. More particularly, the invention is related to an integrated element manager and an integrated multi-services access platform performing grooming, switching and multiplexing on multiple services and data rates.
Frame relay (FR) service providers, as well as asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) service providers, require a sufficient number of data ports in order to provide frame relay and asynchronous transfer mode services. However, these data ports are extremely expensive to obtain compared to ports for a conventional cross-connect systems. Further, time division multiplexed (TDM) links that provide access to frame relay services are extremely under-utilized due to the bursty nature of the information being transferred. The frame relay traffic is carried on fully allocated digital circuits such as DS-0, nxDS-0, T1, E1, T3, E3, et al. As a result, the variable bit rate characteristic of the frame relay traffic is not effectively exploited.
Therefore, it has become desirable to improve the efficiency of frame relay traffic transfer that would reduce the number of frame relay or asynchronous transfer mode ports required by the service provider and further coordinate and consolidate the management systems thereof. With an integrated element manager that manages an integrated multi-services access platform that provides data grooming and multiplexing, customer responsiveness is improved with shorter service provisioning time. Furthermore, operation costs of network management systems is also reduced.
In one aspect of the invention, an integrated multi-services access platform includes a time division multiplex interface coupled to a time division multiplex network, a matrix in communications with the time division multiplex interface, a frame relay groomer coupled to the matrix, an asynchronous transfer mode matrix coupled to the frame relay groomer, and an asynchronous transfer mode interface coupled to a frame relay/asynchronous transfer mode network.
In another aspect of the invention, an integrated element manager includes a centralized management system coupled to a time division multiplex operational support system, a frame relay/asynchronous transfer mode network management system interworking unit coupled to at least one frame relay/asynchronous transfer mode network management system, an element management function unit operable for service provisioning, fault management, element and network monitoring, and metric measurements, an element management database having service and network configurations, status, and billing information, a simple network management protocol unit, and at least one application program interface coupled to at least one telecommunications element.